The country’s financial capital Karachi is amidst a wave of violence once again, as at least 11 people were killed across the city overnight in acts of targeted killings, raising serious questions over the capabilities of law enforcement agencies.
According to police, unidentified assailants opened indiscriminate fire on a bus near Batwa Memon Hospital, killing a female passenger and injuring several others. The body was shifted to Civil Hospital.
The incident triggered panic among the locals. Police said investigations into the incident had been started. In another incident, unidentified men opened fire on a hotel in Sector 10-C area of North Karachi, resulting in the killing of five people and injuring one other. The bodies of the deceased were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Although Rangers cordoned-off the area, police failed to reach the spot on time.
At least three people were killed in Sector 5-C area of North Karachi. Two people were killed in FB area of the city after unidentified men opened fire outside a mosque in Karachi, raising tensions in the area. Aerial firing in area caused shopkeepers to close the markets.
Rangers DG Major General Rizwan Akhter visited the various crime scenes, but no high-ranking police official visited the same until morning.
The five dead in the Sector 10-C area of the North Karachi incident were identified as Zahoor, Sharjeel, Naveed, Shaukat and Atif. Two people identified as Qari Abdus Shakir and Qari Abdul Asif were shot dead at Water Pump area. Enraged protesters staged a demonstration on Shahra-e-Pakistan against the killings.
Continuous targeted killings in Karachi have wreaked havoc with the citizen’s peace of mind since long. Karachi saw the worst wave of violence in July and August 2011 when hundreds lost their lives in various acts of targeted killings. The main rival political parties in the city, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party, have long blamed each other for involvement in the killing of each others’ workers, however, both claim innocence. With the targeted killings at full swing last year, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had said that the killings were a result of love couples falling out of favors with each other and resorting to killing each other, a statement that had shocked all and sundry. The violence in July last year claimed 300 lives, making July one of the deadliest months in almost two decades of the city’s history in fighting linked to ethnic and religious tensions.
Targeted killings claim 11 lives in Karachi
